Crow's Call

Chapter 3- Bloodied Shack

Sometime halfway through the night, Clive had fallen asleep. He didn't remember when, but he was so overtaken by exhaustion that his body shut down. When he awoke, it was late into the morning. The sun was shining through the warehouse windows, lighting up the dust particles filling the air, and the faint smell of smoke caught Clive by surprise. He sat up quickly, looking over to Albi immediately, but to his relief, Albi was simply playing with a match. He was watching it intently, mistified by the flames.
Each passing moment and Clive just grew more interested in this character. There was some strange attraction to him, and Clive couldn't place it. Without saying anything, Clive picked his blade up from the ground, sheathed it in his belt, and got up. Albi quickly shook out the match and dropped it.
"I didn't notice you were awake," he said, stepping on the match to put it out fully, "I take it nothing strange happened during the night?"
"No, nothing strange. It was actually decently quiet," Clive replied.
Albi got up himself, picking up his pack and slinging it over his shoulder.
"Do you have a destination?" Albi asked.
"... No. No destination. I never have a set destination," Clive replied almost hesitantly. He still didn't trust Albi fully, so he decided to give as little detail as possible in his answers. Albi understood this, and just went with it.
"Would you like to travel with me? A fellow survivor with no destination?" he asked, still attempting not to step over any lines while in the presence of a serial killer. Clive thought for a minute, pondering his options. He didn't know this person much at all, and the only evidence of trust that he had was the fact that he wasn't murdered in the night. However, Albi still claimed that he was immune to the Crows Plague. It wasn't much to go on, but what other options did he have?
"Well, I have nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, so why not?" Clive settled on his decision pretty quickly. For a split second, Albi looked almost excited. He grabbed the rest of his stuff, sticking it into his pack and zipping it up. Clive didn't have much to pack to begin with, so instead he moved to the warehouse doors, waiting for Albi.
A cry and the beating of wings was heard from outside before a large black crow perched itself in one of the warehouse windows. It ruffled its feathers and squawked at the two killers. Albi moved for his rifle, startling the crow as it squawked and took off inside the warehouse. Clive, deciding to not go for his blade, unlocked the doors and started pushing them open. The rusted hinges made this difficult and extremely loud.
If they weren't already attracting enough attention, Albi fired his rifle repeatedly until he took the bird down and it's limp body smacked down on the ground. As Clive finished shoving the unruly doors open, he turned around to see nothing but Albi lighting the crow's disgusting little corpse on fire, which was perfectly acceptable in Clive's right mind. Good riddance.
They left quite quickly after that, knowing the noise they'd made would attract the dogs. They prayed the dogs would be too distracted by the scorched crow corpse to follow, and headed out of the city. Another city and it's murdered survivors left behind. Clive was still partiality recovering from the simple shock of gunshots. They left a sort of trauma in him, after his turning day as a child as bullets took his unarmed parents down. Albi didn't know this about Clive yet, so he was left bewildered by Clive's behavior.
As he came back around and regained his sense, the two of them began chatting once again. Topics became deeper, however neither of them revealed much personal information. Clive didn't manage to find out where Albi originated from, and likewise for Albi. Though, they both knew that the other was a traveler.
During their travels they discovered an abandoned shack in the flatlands. The grass was overgrown and vines had nearly devoured half of the run down cabin. They knew it was the best they'd get for miles, so they decided to set up camp there for some time to rest.
As they entered the shack, they had to fight with door and the vines blocking the entrance. It was so overgrown that it took both of them to pry the door open and get inside. Hitchhikers and sandspurs were stuck to their pant legs, and it alone would take an hour to pry them off. Albi dropped his pack on the closest piece of molded and splitery furniture, which happened to be a bedside table. The bed itself was dusty and torn apart. Claw marks had been left on the walls and one of the windows were completely shattered, bloodstains left in many places on the floorboards. The shack obviously had a questionable past. However, shelter was shelter, and they took what they could get.
During their stay Clive discovered an old trapdoor that looked as though it'd been rusted shut. Albi examined it himself, just deciding it was best to leave it be. With the shack's current condition, he figured that anything hidden and locked beneath the floorboards couldn't possibly be good. Clive took the advice and instead focused on starting a small contained fire.
After ten minutes alone failing to get much of a spark, Albi decided to assist him. Albi taught Clive how to use a match, and how to tell if something was good for burning. Clive, never before using fire and struggling with the concept, ended up burning himself quite a few times before getting frustrated and letting Albi start the fire. He only pouted for a few minutes before the fire was started and the warmth was instantly relaxing.
Albi unpacked an old dusty blanket from his pack and sat beside Clive on the ground. After eating and throwing his pack over by the door to keep it shut, him and Clive ended up falling asleep underneath the blanket. They'd forgotten about the trust issues, and instead melted into the safety of warmth. They lost track of time, sleeping for hours as the sun set. As the full moon rose, the start of the night began, and under the rare coziness of a blanket and a partner, the duo slept through the sunset and deep into the night without a fear.